The Next Left blog carries a report of last night’s celebration of the life of late Labour leader Michael Foot. Former UNISON General Secretary Rodney Bickerstaffe was among those labour movement leaders past and present paying tribute: http://www.nextleft.org/2010/11/celebrating-michael-foot.html
Trade unionist Rodney Bickerstaffe added some political edge to the proceedings in a warm yet combative contribution, in which he suggested that Foot might have laughed at at least a few of the lavish tributes paid to him from all points on the political and media spectrum:
"His intellectual integrity is an example to everyone in politics". That, of course, was Nick Clegg, said Bickerstaffe.
He also declared himself "proud to be a footsoldier" in the enduring causes for which Foot stood, noting the resonance of Foot's first speech to the Commons as a government minister, where he noted that:
"Nothing can be more absurd than the spectacle of a few fat men exhorting all the thin ones to tighten their belts".
